Lagos state government has made its closing argument in the trial of the Managing Director of Optimal Cancer Care Foundation, Femi Olaleye.
Gatekeepers News earlier reported that Olaleye is currently facing a two-count charge of defilement and sexual assault by penetration.
Nevertheless, the Cancer Care Advocate has pleaded not guilty to the charges levelled against him by the Lagos state government.
He was accused of sexually violating a minor, said to be his wife’s niece, for over 20 months.
Since November 2022, the state government has been presenting witnesses to the court to testify on the alleged rape incident.
At the resumption of the hearing on Friday, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) in Lagos, Babajide Martins told the court that the prosecution team is closing its case against Olaleye.
Before the prosecution team closed its case, it had presented seven witnesses, however, one of them was withdrawn for being in court while another witness was testifying.
The witnesses include the defendant’s wife Aderemi Olaleye; the alleged survivor (name withheld); a child forensic specialist Olabisi Ajayi-Kayode; a medical examiner Oyebimpe Akinbunmi; a police inspector, Esther Igbineweka, and a police officer, Abe Leonard.
The defendant’s counsel, Babatunde Ogala when asked to open its defence told the court that the defence would be filing a no-case submission.
The judge, however, adjourned the case till March 16 for the adoption of written addresses on the defendant’s no-case submission.
In legal parlance, a no-case submission is usually filed if the defendant’s counsel believes that the prosecution has not sufficiently proven the allegations and the defendant has no case to answer.
